1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to methods for depositing materials containing silicon (Si) and nitrogen (N), and more particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to chemical vapor deposition techniques for thermally depositing SiN materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of silicon-containing films, such as silicon nitride, is a state of the art, front end process used during semiconductor device manufacturing. For example, in a thermal CVD process for depositing silicon nitride, thermal energy is utilized for breaking one or more feedstock chemicals, which includes a silicon precursor, to make a thin film of a silicon nitride on a substrate surface. Conventional thermal CVD of SiN-containing materials is typically performed in a batch furnace or in a single wafer deposition chamber operating at elevated processing temperatures. As device geometries shrink to enable faster integrated circuits, the thermal budget for deposited films must be reduced in order to obtain avoid device damage, satisfactory processing results, good production yield and robust device performance. Although some CVD processes for SiN-containing materials having deposition temperatures less than 650 degrees Celsius have been proposed, no thermal-only (i.e., no plasma or photon assisted processes) have exhibited production worthiness suitable for large scale utilization in semiconductor device fabrication.
Thus, there is a need for a method of depositing SiN-containing materials, such as silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride, at a temperature less than about 650 degrees Celsius.